Italy

Despite the country’s difficult struggle with the COVID-19 outbreak, the Italian solar market is sending some encouraging signs. Italian lender Intesa San Paolo has awarded a €55 million credit facility to Canadian Solar for a portfolio of 12 unsubsidized solar projects.

An Italian startup has developed a luminescent solar concentrator technology that can be integrated with active architectural elements and windows. The technology is based on nanoparticles known as chromophores, which decouple the absorption and light-emission processes, thanks to appropriate engineering. The company claims it has achieved a conversion efficiency of up to 3.2%, with a degree of transparency in the visible spectrum of around 80%.

Rebates are being offered to homeowners and businesses willing to couple small solar systems with energy storage.

The alleged resale in developing countries of solar modules sent for end-of-life recycling in Sicily could have an important lesson for the PV industry: select reliable recycling entities to avoid potential trouble further down the line. The PV industry should also avoid another potential risk, that of the illegal disposal of PV waste outside the EU.

European Parliament groupings, renewable energy associations and climate activists have voiced disappointment at the EU Climate Law officially unveiled yesterday. Lack of a raised emission-reduction ambition to 2030 is at the heart of the opposition, with critics saying the plan will be insufficient to help prevent global temperatures rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius.

New measures introduced by the government allow households, businesses and public entities to produce and trade clean electricity in low-voltage grids. The new framework is open to power projects with a generation capacity no larger than 200 kW.

The list of major solar industry events put on hold due to the Covid-19 virus is lengthening. Today, Solar Solutions Amsterdam became the latest event planned for this month and next which the organizers must reschedule for later in the year.

Italian inverter maker Fimer has completed its purchase of ABB’s manufacturing and R&D sites in Finland, India and Italy, along with 800 employees in 26 countries. Fimer said the combined business will ship more than 7 GW of inverters this year.

Researchers at the Italian oil group are trying to improve organic photovoltaics and luminescent solar concentrators and a new supercomputer with sophisticated algorithms will help them with the solar energy puzzle.

Italian researchers have added graphene to the titanium dioxide electron selective layer used in a perovskite cell to increase chemical stability. The two-terminal cell was made by stacking two sub-cells which were fabricated and optimized separately.